JEFFERSONVILLE, IN. - Robert Kennedy Jr. — a Kennedy who is not backing Sen. Barack Obama — campaigned on Thursday for Sen. Hillary Clinton, saying he wanted to explain why other members of his family are wrong and he is right.
“I am here because I love this woman,” he told a crowd of Clinton supporters in southern Indiana, which holds its presidential nominating primary on Tuesday.
“There are some members of my family who have decided to do the wrong thing and support Barack Obama,” he said. “Let me tell you why they’re wrong and I’m right, because I know Hillary Clinton better than they know Barrack Obama.”
Kennedy’s uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and cousin Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy, have thrown their support behind Obama.
But Robert Kennedy Jr., the son of Sen. Robert Kennedy who was assassinated while campaigning for the US presidency in 1968, has supported Clinton since she first started to run for U.S. Senate in 1999. She now holds the same U.S. Senate seat from New York his father did.
The younger Kennedy, an environmental activist and lawyer, said Clinton ran in New York after enduring ”one of the most savage beatings of any public figure during my lifetime,” recalling the Whitewater investigation that led to the impeachment of her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
The former first lady worked hard to win over Republican strongholds in upstate New York and will work hard to win votes nationwide, he said.
“I saw it happen in upstate New York,” he said. “People, this party has gotten a good look at Hillary Clinton, and they know all those negatives that have been grilled into them for ten years by the right-wing Republicans — that it’s not true, that this is a leader who is going to be one of the most extraordinary presidents in our history.”
As for his family, and the Democratic Party, he said, “We’re all going to be together after August.”
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.
- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Kennedy and Clinton campaign in Jeffersonville, IN)
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I am so glad that one of you Kennedys came out out for Hillary the sad thing about it all of us Ragan Dem. only came back to the party because of Bill. Now the same thing is going in the Party ?? don’t you Democrats Learn !!!
- Posted by Bettina T. FlammiaMr Obama don’t start thinking about being the golden boy
you are not John Kennedy . and you will never be. Maybe in your dreams. and when Caroline came out for Obama. I got SICK. you did not even Know your Dad. And Bill was the only President that your Mother went back to the Wight House to see
your Mother would be ashamed of you. You do not care about the people that made your Party WHAT IT WAS
Thank goodness someone gets it. I was heartbroken and so disapointed when Caroline came out for Obama. I am sure her mother who was a strong Independent woman would have come out for Hillary.
- Posted by mimiRFK Jr was arrested for heroin 25 years ago, did his community service, and has completely sworn off drugs and alcohol ever since. Move on. Maybe you would have trouble too dealing with the fact that your uncle and father were murdered. Anyway, I support Obama but respect Bobby Jr.’s joice. If HRC gets the nom, I hope she picks him as his running mate!
- Posted by AllisonMr Kennedy was arrested for posession of heroin at some point in his life.
- Posted by Sabine HuthThat is a great endorsement for Mrs. Sniperfire !
Thank you, Robert Kennedy, Jr. I respect your courage and your individuality to vote your conscience and not follow the steps of Ted Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy. Hillary is a remarkable woman and will make a great President.
- Posted by FrancescaWhy would anyone support someone running for the top job in the nation on a platform of “I can beat John McCain in November.” Has everyone forgotten that this is a job interview? It doesn’t matter which party is in power, what matters is will the person applying for the job the BEST person for the job? I’m sorry, but someone who LIES repeatedly during a job interview is not someone I would want. Bosnia Sniper story, an Indiana Factory that was moved to China with Bill Clinton’s seal of approval? Where does this woman get the idea that to get the job she wants she needs to tell the people what she thinks they want to hear? Obama may not have the best ideas, but at least he takes a stand for what he believes in, says what he will do, even if it will make him look unpopular.
- Posted by StevenTHE WORST THOUGH???
HRC own admission that if Iran were to launch a strike against Israel, she would launch nothing short of a full retaliation aimed at the OBLITERATION (that’s a word she used!) of Iran. You would trust this woman with the red phone at 3 in the morning? That sounds like the type of decision you would make after only getting 3 hours of sleep! Where’s the system of checks and balances that we have in place to control our leaders for annilating all of us? She consistently pounds Bush for his failed foreign policies, but she not even in office yet and she’s already laying the groundwork for her own!
PLEASE PLEASE for the sake of every life in this world, PLEASE CONSIDER why you are voting for Hilary Clinton. What is this woman going to do for you that Obama isn’t? He’s already pledged to reinvest in our infrastructure, revamp our school system by cutting NASA’s Constellation program funding, and focus on our standing worldwide through diplomacy, through a willingness to talk.
The Clintons? Appartently talk is cheap, all they want is action.
I fear for the fate of our country.